<p>Some excellent suggestions of schools on this thread of the OP. Could the school counselor at the private school help in terms of selecting good target schools? </p>
<p>Isn’t there a way to write an essay and attach to every application? I know my son wrote such a letter, explaining a special circumstance, and sent that in.</p>
<p>Yes there is (a place to write a short explanation/personal statement/etc.) that can be included with every common app.</p>
<p>ugh duh… misread UMass Amherst as simply Amherst. You can disregard all my comments now 
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<p>Someone said that Williams doesn’t have a supplement - it does (I applied last year, they have the same prompt each year; it’s fun, but existent).</p>
<p>Middlebury is obviously a great LAC on the East coast, and it has a neuroscience major. It has an optional supplement in which the student can write a statement specific to Midd or explain special circumstances. Students can also upload a document, such as a resume. None of this is required, though. (I’ve done research on this since I am considering applying ED to Middlebury this fall )</p>
<p>Best of luck to your son!</p>
<p>i don’t think it is true that Kenyon doesn’t ask for essays, unless they dropped them this last application cycle. When my D applied for fall 2013, she had to answer the following:</p>
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<p>Grinnell at least used to have optional essays. And “optional” means “do them” for application essays, of course. I remember on our visit they talked about the previous year’s supplemental topic of talking about a time when you took someone’s advice and how it turned out. This would be an impossible topic for D2 to write on, as she has never taken a scrap of advice from anyone in her life. 
That is why I remember it…</p>
<p>Lawrence (not east coast, though) requires just a 300 character “Why Lawrence?”.</p>
<p>If your S in going in ED or EA perhaps he will get lucky and not have to do any more apps.</p>
<p>thanks everyone! To answer questions above, I used the word “felony” bc the CA asks if one has ever been on probation, suspended, etc or committed a felony. Then the student is given a small area to explain, which he will. And the guidance counselor will do so as well and she is not too worried about it from what she has told me. But basically, he has to check the same box as if he murdered someone. </p>
<p>He is child #4, a kid I have never even had to raise my voice towards, who thanks me everyday for working hard to pay his private school tuition and who every teacher, peer, employer has said is just a “doll”. (My other 3 kids were nowhere near the kid this one is as far as character, etc). When he was sick (no excuse) and had missed 10 days of school and was trying desperately to catch up, he copied spark notes as part of the assignment which was first to do a plot summary and then interpret the shakespeare act. He copied the 1/4 page plot summary and then wrote the 4 page interpretation himself. It was a shortcut that saved him probably 20 minutes in a paper that took 8 hours to write. The school does have an honor code, and no doubt what he did was wrong. He got a one day suspension (other kids at school with academic dishonesty typically get 3 day suspension). </p>
<p>I never disagreed with the punishment as I think he got what he deserved. But having worked in admissions at undergrad level, med school and residency level, I know there are schools or just individual adcoms who will have a real problem with this and in those cases, his app will go right into the trash. On the other hand, others may feel that this 16yo kid made a mistake, admitted it and took full responsibility and learned from it and may be willing to give him a chance. He has never been in any other trouble, not even a late slip. So we were advised to apply to 50% more schools than his peers, figuring up to 50% will ditch his app. He will probably apply to 18 schools, and as I said in first post, I was looking for apps without a supplement bc after the first 10 apps, he will probably not have much time to do a good job on supplemental essays. Muhlenberg was an example of a school that seems like a good fit and is now even more appealing for RD bc it does not have a supplemental app. </p>
<p>Barb…do any of his schools have EA? Not SCEA or ED…but regular EA. Do any have rolling admissions? </p>
<p>If so, get those applications done as soon as reasonably possible. He could have a desired acceptance before he has to complete 18 applications.</p>
<p>He could apply to University of Alabama today…and he would have an admission decision very soon. And unless I’m reading his stats incorrectly, he would get merit aid there guaranteed at some level. </p>
<p>Oh gosh, the original post was really misleading. Cheating, routine cheating, is rampant in schools. The explanation above seems like something that could be shared by the GC. Your son could address it in a short supplementary essay saying he learned something etc. etc. Letters of recommendation could confirm character. I thought he had actually committed a felony!</p>
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<p>But is getting caught and having that in one’s academic records as rampant as actual cheating is? Seems like the OP’s son has a significant disadvantage in college applications, unlike the cheaters who did not get caught.</p>
<p>@thumper1
He will apply ED to Brown (triple legacy) which I know is unlikely and will choose at least one EA or rolling. But so far, no EA has really caught his eye, but he is working on this. </p>
<p>I will say that there is variability in punishment for cheating. My friend’s daughter, when a junior in an ivy league COLLEGE, handed in a spanish essay that contained 3 plagiarized sentences. She had no good explanation for this. But when caught, professor just made her do the assignment over again. She still got an A in the class. Students at the local public suburban HS 2 towns away (where we used to live) routinely buy essays and do occasionally get caught. First offenses there rarely get suspension. A friend of a friend’s kid got just a warning and an F on the paper. But nothing in his permanent record. But our HS is ALL about the honor code and my kid broke it. </p>
<p>And yes, @compmom, I am known for my hyperbole. I was just flabbergasted to see that the common app question includes everything from cheating (albeit this is a bad thing) to felony murder and everything in between. A student must check the same box on the app for cheating on a homework assignment as they check for murder. The common app requires the student to explain the issue which of course he will do in a way that takes full responsibility and makes no excuses. And the GC will address it as she is required to do this. It will be the kiss of death for some schools/adcoms no matter what is written though and he is expecting many flat out rejections. I am pretty sure that I myself would throw his application in the trash as there are so many qualified applicants for each spot (at least for all of the reaches he has selected…) </p>
<p>If you “know” the ED to Brown is unlikely, then why waste the ED? Why not apply ED to a school where you think he has a better chance, especially under these particular circumstances?</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus you are so right. He was one of the few that was caught, and that was bc he did something not only wrong, but stupid. Copying a plot summary out of SPARK NOTES??? REALLLY??? I think he even cut and pasted it leaving it in the original font from the online spark notes. And then wrote his own part - the interpretation in a different font. Cheating is rampant at his school, but “stupid cheating” and getting caught is not. I know that my older son’s friend’s father wrote his son’s history TERM PAPER. DS is definitely up the proverbial creek here IMHO. Long ago, he had wanted to even consider USNA, but as soon as this happened, we scrapped those plans immediately. We do know one of our 2 US senators really well, but that only gets you so far. </p>
<p>@barbfam1, it is such a shame that this happened. I am glad that your son’s GC is on top of it. (And also that he did not commit a felony! ) As an FYI, IIRC the student I mentioned whose ED acceptance was rescinded as a result of plagiarism subsequently got into another top 20 school. And this was not one of the very top group of students in the class. But I do not know what actually appeared on the record, whether another teacher was willing to give a rec and not mention the incident, etc.</p>
<p>Certainly, since his school is going to be behind him and make it clear that this was an aberration–I find it particularly ironic that he plagiarized the almost rote, easy part and did his own work on the rest!–all will not be lost.</p>
<p>As for Brown, as a triple legacy, they have every reason to pay particular attention to his application and give him extra consideration. But it seems to me that his stats are going to be more of a problem there than the disciplinary record.</p>
<p>@HarvestMoon1 DS1 will be freshman at Brown this fall, and we are low savings/higher income, so we have been told that Brown will be most financially appealing for DS2 (ie we will get some financial aid for having 2 kids in college, esp if both at Brown). Otherwise, we will need to wait and compare FA and any merit aid that might be offered. EFC calculators not going to work accurately enough bc husband has his own (struggling) business and some schools will care that DS1 and DS2 will be in school for 3 out of 4 yrs together. Luckily, sweet DS2 knows he can not fall in love with any place, as finances may play a role. I know this is terrible to say, but we will pay 45k/yr to Brown for DS1 (my employer pays 15K), but there are a lot of schools for which I would NOT pay 45K tuition/room/board - (after 15k employer contribution).</p>
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<p>I don’t blame you in the least. There is a long list of schools, including mediocre OOS flagships, that I think people are nuts to pay big $$ for instead of their state flagship. ( All depends on the state, of course.) There are also schools that I would consider it worth stretching hard for.</p>
<p>Is this the son who is looking for water polo? Is he willing to sacrifice that for his second-string apps?</p>
<p>While you may be looking at schools that do NOT require supplemental essays, forms, etc. I would recommend a paradigm shift, to embrace schools that do require additional. This will give your son more of an opportunity to identify and demonstrate his strengths hopefully lessen and deflect from the negative aspect of his application.</p>
<p>I believe UA has its own application, not the common app, which is available now. I’m guessing it would be a slam dunk for this kid. And really, it’s a fine school.</p>
<p>@consolation. It just feels bad to me to have let DS1 go where ever he wanted (got in ED to Brown) while DS2 may be told that if he does not get into ED Brown, it is likely that he will have to see where chips fall RD and choose his school, using total cost as a contributing factor. My two daughters, with whom DS2 grew up, have a different father (wealthy) so they could go wherever they wanted and school was 100% paid for. But DS2 gets it. The only thing he asked for is an active water polo club team, but he knows that is just a request and not a guarantee, esp given the circumstances. Academically, he would be in fine shape form many schools, though not tippy top schools, as Naviance from our school shows that ALL of the many apps to Colgate (for example) with his stats got in RD over past 5 years (ALL!). But with the discom thing, all bets are off.</p>
<p>@sybbie719 Thanks, I was thinking that myself. He will do the most supplemental apps that he can do, and I was hoping that some of the small LAC’s that actually do real interviews may also be appealing too as once they meet him in person, I think that at least some of their concern would be diminished.</p>